PLASMA MEASUREMENTS IN THE ESA ELECTRIC PROPULSION LABORATORY

D. Nicolini, J. Gonzalez del Amo. and G. Saccoccia

Electric Propulsml Section, Mecl~unrcalEngineering D e p a r t r ~ ~ e ~ l t

Europearl Space Agerlcy, ESTEC, P.O. Box 299, 2200 AG Noordwijk, The Netlzerlar~ds
Tel: +3/ 7 / 56.5 4973, Fox: +3/ 7 / 56.5 542 1, David. Nicolini@esa.it~t

Abstract
Electric propulsion (EP) thrusters are highly important for both commercial and scientific applications due to their high
~pecificimpulse, high controllability and proven reliability. Europe is developing scvcral types of EP thrusters that
provide thrust levels between 1 pN up to 200 mN. Design, manufacturing and testing of such thrusters is a complex
xtivity that requires a great effort, especially in the testing field. Full characterization, qualification and plume
~nteractiontests are mandatory for the full assessment of this technology. The Electric Propulsion Laboratory at ESA
has set up three facilities that are currently used in the preparation of several missions requiring electric propulsion
thrusters. This paper will describe these test facilities, the diagnostics employed and some important results.

Introduction (formerly FIAR) power supplies. and will operate at 15

mN consuming 600 W of power.
ESA Telecommunications, Earth Observation and
Scientific programs have several spacecraft with electric
propulsion systems on board 1 . Two types of ion
thrusters (RIT-10, UK-10) are operating on the
ARTEMIS satellite2 from this year, the GOCE satellite
will operate ion engines to compensate atmospheric
drag in 3005, the S M A R T - I ' spacecraft will use the
PPS-1350 hall thruster as a primary propulsion system
to fly to the moon in 2002 and the MlCROSCOPE
(CNES) satellite will fly in drag-free mode by operating
FEEP-5 field emission thrusters in 2004.

During the development of these thrusters. extensive Figure 1: RIT-10 in operation

ground testing in vacuum chambers is carried out to
characterize the plume and to ensure the required
lifetime. The Electric Propulsion Laboratory at ESTEC
is currently being used to perform qualification tests of
the RIT-I0 (Radio-frequency Ion Thruster) engine that
is flying on ARTEMIS and of the FEEP-5 (Field
Emission Electric Propulsion) thruster that is the
baseline in several ESA scientific missions (SMART-?,
LISA, DARWIN, GAIA). Furthermore, some
preliminary characterization tests are performed to
assess the critical areas raised by both technology and
mission developers. This paper will describe these test
facilities, the diagnostics employed and some important
test results.
Ion thruster testing
The RIT-10 system on ARTEMIS performs together
with UK-10 ion engine the North South Station Keeping
(NSSK) operations and, not planned for (due to LI
launcher malfunction), the orbit raising from 31000 km
to GEO. This system relies on the Astrium ion thruster
with the PROEL neutralizer and Alenia Defense
The operation of the thruster during the mission imposes
a lifetime requirement of 10000 hours. This means that
a long duration life testing of components subject to
wear out [neutralizers and grids) must be performed.
Astrium (D) and the University of Giessen ha\?
developed this propulsion system. This technology is
based on a three-grid concept. The Xenon propellant
flows through the feed line via the isolator and the
extraction anode, which also functions aa gas
distributor. into the discharge chamber. This chamber is
surrounded by an induction coil that is connected to an
RF-generator with a frequency of I MHz generating a
high frequency electrical eddy field in thc discharge
chamber. Free electrons coming from the neutralizer
collect energy from the induced electric field and ionize
the neutral propellant atoms by inelastic collisions.
When the discharge 1s ~gnitedthrust is generated by the
acceleration of ions in the electrostatic field applied to
an extraction system comprising an extraction anode, an

Proc. 7"' Spacecraft Charging Tcchnolopy Conference, 23-27 ,April 2001. ESTEC. Noortla~lk,Thc Nethcrl:mds. ESA S P - 4 7 6 h'o\'cmhcr 2001
insulating plasma holder, an acceleration electrode and a
deceleration electrode (see Figure 2).
of the cryopanels are needed. The PSCU (Power Sup;
and Conditioning Unit) and the other equipmc-
necessary for the performance of the test (translator I.
main bus simulator, computers, xenon bottle etc. r .;-.
located outside the vacuum chamber. Tubing .:-
electrical connections go inside the vacuum chamber ..
feedthroughs.

Figure 2: KIT-10 schema

The lifetime test will demonstrate the capability of the

system to perform the required operation over the total IJigure 3: Vacuum Facility 3
mission time. Even if Ion Thrusters do not contain
mechanisms with moving parts, they contain
The main requirements used in the preparation of thcl
components that are subject to erosion by the ion beam,
vacuum chamber were:
and thus can intluence the operating parameters of the
assembly during the lifetime or limit the lifetime itself. - Background pressure in the area of the beam during
The main components intluencing the lifet~meof the
RIT operation at 15 mN: 5 * 10.' torr
thruster are the grid system of the thruster and the - Free length of the ion beam: > 1.5 m
electron emitting material stored in the Insert of the - Inner diameter: > I m
neutralizer tip. - Temperature of the thruster flange < 40 O C
- Automatic operation and control
I n orbit, the RIT-I0 system performs operations in
cycles of 3 hours firing every 12 hours for the 10-year
This facility fulfils these requirements. A set of vacuum
mission. This corresponds to about 10000 hours of
pumps, includ~ngs ~ xcryopumps. one graphite-coated
firing. For a lifetime qualification test, a safety factor of
collector at the end of the chamber and a set of
1.5 is applied to the nominal thruster life, which brings
diagnost~cmeasurements are used in this effort.
the total needed firing time of the RIT-I0 to 15000
hours. At the ESA Electric Propulsion Laboratory In
The nominal test set-up has the following test
ESTEC, the lifetime test was set-up so that the thruster
components: PSCI!, M a ~ nBus simulator-translator box,
operates in cycles of 3 hours on and I hour off (the
data handling system, data acquisition system and
minimum time necessary to bring the thruster agaln to
Xenon supply system.
the nominal temperature at starting conditions!. T h ~ s
allows reducing the overall testing time to about 2.5
years. At this moment the thruster has reached the
15000 hours of operation required for qualification and
will complete soon the 600 cycles requested (they were
not reached simultaneously because after the launch
failure the thruster was fired in continuous mode for
several hundred hours to simulate the orbit transfer
operation).

The vacuum facility has been equipped to perform a

fully automated test (24-7) and is monitored remotely
from Munich via ISDN. The schematic of the main Figure 4: RIT lifetime test set-up
vacuum components is shown in Figure 4. The RIT
thruster and the neutralizer are mounted on a plate
inside the hatch of the vacuum chamber that is always In case of failure of the normal set-up, a back-up set-up
under vacuum and can be separated from the main is foreseen with laboratory power supplies and
vacuum chamber by a valve, if repairs or recondition~ng
.ommercial flow controllers that will allow continuing
.he test until the units are repaired.
The diagnostic equipment comprises the diagnostic arm.
.he backsputtering sensors and the mass spectrometer4.
The diagnostic arm monitors the thrust vector
stability during the mission time. This arm has been
designed and manufactured at ESTEC. The arm,
installed inside the vacuum chamber, is raised at
predetermined intervals in front of the ion beam,
where sensors detect the intensity of the ion beam
itself.
Figure 5: Diagnostic arm in down position during
maintenance
The arm has a square cross section and contains in
its case a row of 48 target plates, made of sta~nless
steel. The ion beam passes the entrance slit where
electrons coming from the neutralizer are
suppressed, and finally hit the sensor plates (Figure
6). The current signal produced is fed into filtering
and amplification circuits, mounted on printed
circuit boards, in the rear section of the arm. The
current signal is converted into a voltage, then IS
amplified by a factor of 10 and finally prov~dedas a
low impedance output. The readings of the sensors
are multiply by 3 using a movable strip carrylng the
holes in front of the sensors, in order to reduce the
uncertainty in the thrust vector measurement. 18
additional sensors are mounted on 3 lateral arms
with fixed hole positions, which provide indications
on the ion beam distribution i n the horizontal plane.
The maximum time this arm is in the beam is two
minutes; this time had to be short In order to avoid
the destruction of the probe and the backsputtering
of materials coming from the arm towards the
thruster. The arm is calibrated at the start of the
measurements and is re-calibrated twlce a year
during testing time. Figure 5 shows the diagnostic
arm and a typical curve obtained at one
measurement is shown in Figure 7. The evolution
of this curve with time allows us to characterize the
thrust vector migration.
The backsputtering monitor devices are Quartz
Crystal Microbalances that are placed in the main
chamber closed to the thruster exit plane. These
devices quantify the material backsputtered in the
direction of the thruster by the chamber walls and
the beam target. In addition, two metallic plates.
one shielded and one unshielded are also near the
thruster mouth. The weight of both plates are
measured a certain intervals to compare the
material deposition quantity on the uncovered with
respect to the covered plate5.
Figure 6 : Mechanical drawing of plasma sensor
A mass spectrometer is used to detect materials
coming from the thruster, mainly the grids, and to
assess a possible failure of the thruster due to the
erosion or deposition of thruster material on the
thruster itself.
Figure 7: RIT- LO beam profile after 14000 hours of
operation
This vacuum chamber has been designed to minimize
the interaction of the thruster beam with the chamber
walls. Vacuum pumps and collector are the means to
ensure this task. The diagnostic devices monitor the
evolution of the different thruster parameters and to
identify any cause of any problem related to the
interaction of the thruster beam with the chamber. How
to separate the effects due to the chamber plume-
interaction from the effects due to the thruster lifetime
has been our major goal.
Field emission thruster testing
The FEEP-5 thruster will have its first application on
the CNES mission MICROSCOPE. ESA will supply to
CNES the FEEP propulsion subsystem developed by
Alta (industrial spin-off of Centrospazio). The thruster
will perform the drag-free control of the satellite, in
order to allow the verification of the equivalence
principle up to a 15-digit precision, by thrusting in the 1
- 100 p N range at an average of 15 pN consuming 8 W
of power per cluster of three. The FEEP-5 is also
currently under an ESA extensive verification and
qualification program in view of its possible application
on the ESA missions SMART-2, LISA. and DARWN.
The same applies for the mN-level FEEP-50 candidate
for the ESA missions GAIA and GOCE.
Figure 8: FEEP-50 in operation
Testing on FEEP at the ESA Electric Propulsion
Laboratory includes lifetime testing, direct thrust
measurements, performance tests, advanced plume
diagnostics, contamination measurements, and direct
mass tlow measurements (not trivial for FEEP due to
the liquid metal propellant, Cesium, and to the very low
mass tlow figures, down to 0,l pgls). Two facilit~esare
dedicated for these tests, of which one fully automated
and remotely controllable for lifetime testingG.
An advanced diagnostic system capable of generating 3-
D plots of the beam distribution and intensity was
developed in the laboratory in cooperation with ~ l t a ' .
The system is based on two simple wire probes that scan
the plume density distribution along the three axes and
on a triple Langmuir probe that measures plasr-
density, electron temperature and plasma potential alor,
the thrust direction. Furthermore, the two wire p r o k .
can be used to instantaneously identify the position -
space ot the thrust vector.
Figure 9: Vacuum facility for FEEP performance, plume
analysis and lifetime testing.
The two wire probes are mounted on a frame structurc..
perpendicular to each other, and are moved by t \ i l
stepper motors via four chains. The structure, supportc
on four ultra high vacuum bearings used as wheel..
slides on two guides, allowing the probes to bc.
positwned at a mawmum distance of 50 cm from the
thruster. On the same structurc is mounted the triplc.
probe. which is normally kept out of the beam and can
be put in place, when needed, in by another stepper
motor. The structure is made of aluminum mainl!
because of its low sputtering yield.
Figure 10: The diagnostic system for 3-D ion beam analysis
The two probes orthogonal to each other, used to
determine the plasma distribution, are simply two
cylindrical filaments made out of a conductive material
(steel or tungsten), long enough to contain the cross
section of the ion beam, which is connected to ground in
the course of an ammeter. By measuring the current
flowing through the ammeter as a function of the
position of the probe in the plume, the ion densit)
distribution can be derived, being proportional to the
current collected by the probe. The current measured is
mainly due to the ions that hit the probe at high speed.
generating a direct ion current plus a small current
caused by the electron secondary emission from the
impinged probe. The current collected by the probe is
not directly related to the plasma density, but it can be
very useful to estimate the ion density distribution in the
plume, which is responsible for the thrust generation.
Together with the two simple wire probes, a triple
Langmuir probe is used to give a quantitative measure
to the plasma distribution measurement. The triple
probe has the great advantage that the voltage swapping
is not required to derive the needed parameters, thus
making it possible to measure instantaneously plasma
density, plasma potential and electron temperature. The
equations from which the plasma properties are
calculated are shown below:
from which the electron temperature can be implicitly
derived, and
from which the plasma density. and
from which the plasma potential. q,,.,.< are coefficients
that take into account the presence of the sheath around
the filaments.
AV
Figure 11: Triple Langmuir probe schema
The ion density in the plume is mapped simply by
measuring the current flowing between ground and the
wire probe while the probe is scanning the plume.
Alternatively, the probes can be polarized negative with
respect to ground, to reduce the plasma sheath thickness
and simultaneously reduce secondary ion emission and
the electron current collected on the probe. The wire
probes can scan the plume one at a time simply by
crossing it, thus yielding the 1-D envelope of the
integral along the probe of a quantity proportional to the
ion density. The probes can also scan the plume
simultaneously and take advantage of their mutual
interaction to retrieve the 2-D ion density distribution on
the scanning plane. Repeating this scanning procedure
at various distances from the thruster, a 3-D map of the
plume can be obtained. More precisely, the first probe
invested by the ion beam creates a wake region behind
itself that extends for a distance that depends on the
mean ion velocity (energy). If the second probe is in the
zone of influence of the first probe, it will collect an ion
current that is smaller by an amount proportional to the
size of the wake region and to the ion density in that
region.
Figure 12: Wake region created in the ion beam by the
probe.
By applying this procedure for different points on the
scanning plane, and consequentially by repeating it on
other scanning planes, a three dimensional ion
distribution in the plume can be obtained.
Figure 13: FEEY-5 plume image generated with the
FEEP's facility diagnostic system (top view, normal to slit
plane)

Combining this qualitative density distribution with
quantitative triple probe measurements of the plasma
density along the plume center axis, a quantitative 3-D
image can be obtained.
FEEPJ 01 lsuN
22"" International Electric Propul.sion Confererzcr,
Viareggio. October 1991
6
Marcuccio, S., Nicolini, D., Saviozzi, M..
"Endurance Test of the Micronewton FEEP Thruster".
36"' Joint Propulsion Conference, July 16-19, 2000
Hurztsdle. AL

' ~ i c o l i n i ,D., Marcuccio, S., Andrenucci, M..

"3-D Plume Characterization of a FEEP Thruster", 36"'
Joint Propulsion Conference, July 16-19, 2001)
Hu~ltsville,A L

h i e l Distance (m)

Figure 14: Triple Langmuir probe measurement on a

FEEP-5

The complete scanning cycle takes not more than a few

minutes, unless when operating at high spatial
resolution.

Acknowledgements
The authors thank Astrium and Alta for their support
and cooperation in the development of the diagnostic
systems and during the testing activities. Astrium
produces the RIT Gridded Ion Thruster; Alta produces
the FEEP Field Emission Thruster.

References
'~accoccia,G., Gonzilez del Amo, J., and
Estublier, D., "Electric Propulsion: A Key Technology
for Space Missions in the New Millennium", ESA
Bulletin, 101, 2000

'~assner, H., Berg, H.P., Fetzer, K., and

Miiller, G., "Ion Propulsion Package IPP for NIS-
Station keeping of the ARTEMIS Satellite",
I~zter~zntional
Electric Propulsion Conference, IEPC-91-
055, 1991

3 ~ a c c aG.D.,
, Foing, B.H., and Rathsman, "An
Overview on the Status of the SMART-1 Mission".
I~iteri~ational Astro~zautical Congress. IAA-99-
IAA.11.2.09, 1999
4
G. Saccoccia, J. Gonzalez. C. Bartoli, F, van
den Bos, "Life-Time Test Set-up at ESTEC for RIT-I0
Thruster Qualification for Artemis", 31" Joint
Prop~ilsiorz Corzfererzce, July 10-12, 1995 Sun Diego,
CA

'K. Groh, N. Kreiling, "Beam Diagnostics for

the Characterization of ion Thruster Beam Parameters",